Methods and Results of an Optical Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations

I summarize fully-sampled observations of the 3 mm emission from CO and HCN in the inner arcminute of NGC 1068. The CO emission is distributed in the form of a molecular bar, coincident with the infrared bar, from which emanate two spiral arms. A relatively weak concentration of CO line emission is found at the nucleus. By contrast, the HCN emission is strongly concentrated at the center, with relatively weak emission in the region of the star-forming arms. The ratio of HCN to CO integrated intensities is about 0.6 over the central r ≉ 175 pc and is the highest ratio measured in the center of any galaxy; the ratio reflects the high thermal pressure (TK ~ 50 K, n[H2] ~ 4 × 106 cm-3) in the few hundred parsecs surrounding the nucleus. The kinematics in the star-forming arms are well described by circular orbits, with ordered noncircular motions of < 30 km s-1 that may be attributed to spiral density wave streaming. Interior to the bar, noncircular motions dominate the gas kinematics. A model of the CO kinematics contrains any Inner Lindblad Resonance to be close to the location of the hundred-parsec scale HCN ‘disk’. At the nucleus, the spatially unresolved CO emission shows a triplet velocity structure characteristic of kinematically independent regions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Possible 456-Day Optical Period of OQ 530

The post-1994observationsof the blazar OQ 530 in optical BV RI bands, and radio observations at 22GHz and 37GHz were collected. The date compensated discrete Fourier transform (DCDFT) and CLEANest methods were used to search for possible periodicities. Two possible periods of 456±100 days and 258±29 days were found in the optical bands. The existence of possible correlations between the optical and radio emissions was investigated by means of discrete correlation function (DCF) analysis, and no significant correlation was found. Some possible mechanisms for the periodic variability are discussed.     

复合面状对象拓扑关系的表达模型

为表达复合面状对象间的细节拓扑关系,对经典9-交集模型进行了改进,给出两种基于分解思想的9-交集模型,其中分解成简单区域的9-交集模型方法相对简单,但表现形式繁琐;分解成点集的9-交集模型的表现形式符合经典9-交集模型,但计算较为复杂。通过示例比较了两种扩展9-交集模型及经典9-交集模型的表达能力。结果表明,两种扩展交集模型均能准确地表达出复合面状对象各子部分之间的拓扑关系的细节,扩充了9-交集模型的表达能力。     

TeV γ-ray fluxes from the long campaigns on Mrk 421 as constraints on the emission of TeV–PeV neutrinos and UHECRs

Long TeV γ-ray campaigns have been carried out to study the spectrum, variability and duty cycle of the BL Lac object Markarian 421. These campaigns have given some evidence of the presence of protons in the jet: (i) Its spectral energy distribution which shows two main peaks; one at low energies (∼1 keV) and the other at high energies (hundreds of GeV), has been described by using synchrotron proton blazar model. (ii) The study of the variability at GeV γ-rays and X-rays has indicated no significant correlation. (iii) TeV γ-ray detections without activity in X-rays, called “orphan flares” have been observed in this object.Recently, The Telescope Array Collaboration reported the arrival of 72 ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with some of them possibly related to the direction of Markarian 421. The IceCube Collaboration reported the detection of 37 extraterrestrial neutrinos in the TeV–PeV energy range collected during three consecutive years. In particular, no neutrino track events were associated with this source. In this paper, we consider the proton–photon interactions to correlate the TeV γ-ray fluxes reported by long campaigns with the neutrino and ultra-high-energy cosmic ray observations around this blazar. Considering the results reported by The IceCube and Telescope Array Collaborations, we found that only from ∼25% to 70% of TeV fluxes described with a power law function with exponential cutoff can come from the proton–photon interactions.     

The Long-term Light Variation of BL Lac Object 1ES 1959+650

According to the data of optical observations of the Tuorla Observatory in Finland, using the power spectrum method, DCF (Discrete Correlation Function) method, and Jurkevich method, respectively, we analyzed the periodicity of the long-term light variation of the BL Lac object 1ES 1959+650, and obtained its light period to be P =1.4±0.3 yr. Assuming that the origin of the periodicity is concerned with the accretion disk, we obtained the region where the instability of this source occurs being R =9.65 R_g, here R_g represents the Schwarzschild radius.     

Low phase angle effects in photometry of trans-neptunian objects: 20000 Varuna and 19308 (1996 TO66)

We present the results of photometric observations of trans-neptunian object 20000 Varuna, which were obtained during 7 nights in November 2004-February 2005. The analysis of new and available photometric observations of Varuna reveals a pronounced opposition surge at phase angles less than 0.1 deg with amplitude of 0.2 mag relatively to the extrapolation of the linear part of magnitude-phase dependence to zero phase angle. The opposition surge of Varuna is markedly different from that of dark asteroids while quite typical for moderate albedo Solar System bodies. We find an indication of variations of the scattering properties over Varuna's surface that could result in an increase of the lightcurve amplitude toward zero phase angle. It is shown that a similar phase effect can be responsible for lightcurve changes found for TNO 19308 (1996 TO₆₆) in 1997-1999.     

Sharp images of young stellar objects

We present high resolution infrared images of the pre-main sequence star V536 Aql and polarization maps of the reflection nebula IRN Cha observed with the SHARP camera on the ESO NTT. Extended structures are observed near V536 Aql. The polarization pattern of IRN Cha is typical of a centrally illuminated source but with a central band of anomalously oriented polarization believed to occur in an optically thick disk.     

The occurrence of high-order resonances and Kozai mechanism in the scattered disk

By means of numerical methods we explore the relevance of the high-order exterior mean motion resonances (MMR) with Neptune that a scattered disk object (SDO) can experience in its diffusion to the Oort cloud. Using a numerical method for estimate the strength of these resonances we show that high-eccentricity or high-inclination resonant orbits should have evident dynamical effects. We investigate the properties of the Kozai mechanism (KM) for non-resonant SDO's and the conditions that generate the KM inside a MMR associated with substantial changes in eccentricity and inclination. We found that the KM inside a MMR is typical for SDO's with Pluto-like or greater inclinations and is generated by the oscillation of ω inside the mixed (e,i) resonant terms of the disturbing function. A SDO diffusing to the Oort cloud should experience temporary captures in MMR, preferably of the type 1:N, and when evolving inside a MMR and experiencing the KM it can reach regions where the strength of the resonance drops and consequently there is a possibility of being decoupled from the resonance generating by this way a long-lived high-perihelion scattered disk object (HPSDO).     

The color of the Kuiper belt Core

Recent dynamical analyses of the Kuiper belt have introduced a rigorous classification scheme, determined the mean orbital plane, and identified “Core” and “Halo” populations as a function of inclination with respect to this plane (Elliot, J.L., Kern, S.D., Clancy, K.B., Gulbis, A.A.S., Millis, R.L., Buie, M.W., Wasserman, L.H., Chiang, E.I., Jordan, A.B., Trilling, D.E., Meech, K.J., 2005. Astron. J. 129, 1117-1162). Here, we use new observations and existing data to investigate the colors of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) within this framework. With respect to the bulk KBO color distribution (all objects for which we have B-V and V-R colors; median B-R=1.56), we find that the population of objects classified following (Elliot, J.L., Kern, S.D., Clancy, K.B., Gulbis, A.A.S., Millis, R.L., Buie, M.W., Wasserman, L.H., Chiang, E.I., Jordan, A.B., Trilling, D.E., Meech, K.J., 2005. Astron. J. 129, 1117-1162) as Classical tends to be red (B-R>1.56) while the Scattered Near population is mostly neutral (B-R<1.56). Colors of Scattered Extended and Resonant objects are consistent with the bulk distribution. Separating objects into specific resonances demonstrates that the color of the Resonant sample is dominated by KBOs in the 3:2 resonance, which is consistent with previous findings. Unlike the objects in the 3:2 resonance, however, the majority of objects in the 5:2 resonance are neutral and all but one of the objects in the 4:3, 5:3, 7:4, 2:1, and 7:3 resonances are red. In particular, the objects in the 7:4 resonance are remarkably red. We find that the colors of KBOs in the Core (low-inclination) and Halo (high-inclination) are statistically different, with Core objects being primarily red and Halo objects having a slight tendency to be neutral. Notably, virtually all of the non-Resonant Core objects are red. This combination of low inclination, unperturbed orbits and red colors in the Core may be indicative of a relic grouping of objects.